Worker dies in industrial accident at Vale in Sudbury, Ont.

Ontario's Ministry of Labour has confirmed a contract worker hurt Thursday afternoon on the Vale tailings property has died.

In an email to CBC News, ministry spokesperson Janet Deline said the employee was pinned underneath the tires of a dump truck, causing fatal injuries.

The ministry said it was notified of the incident around 10:15 p.m. Thursday.

Knowing exactly how the worker ended up underneath the equipment may take some time, Deline said in a subsequent interview.

"An investigation can take upwards of about a year to complete, if necessary, because if charges are warranted ... [they] have to be issued within one year of the date of the offence," she said.

Earlier Friday morning, officials with Vale, the owner of the property on which the incident occurred, said in a written release that the employee sustained "critical injuries" while disposing of waste materials at a tailings dump as part ofVale's Clean AER project.

The worker is not being named "out of respect for the family."

• Vale smelter upgrades on track for 2018, Clean AER manager says

The worker was an employee of Cecchetto and Sons, a general contractor based in Sudbury.

"Our thoughts are with the family, co-workers and friends of this individual," Dave Stefanuto, Vale's vice-president of north Atlantic projects said in therelease.

"We are doing everything we can to support them and to better understand what happened during this incident."

The Ministry of Labour and Sudbury police are investigating, along with Vale and other contractors. The ministry confirmed that, as of Friday morning, no work site orders had been issued.

The Clean AER project involves a number of upgrades to Vale's Sudbury smelter that are required to bring the company in-line with the province's updated air quality standards for sulfur emissions.